Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

Christmas exchanges

I can think of a quite few people who have drifted across our social path in the preceding thirty years but whom now have no meaning for us. Nowadays when it comes to exchanging Christmas goodwill with friends and relatives we tend towards quality rather than quantity.

Christmas cards still arrive in the post, but sometimes I wonder why some people bother. A few words of feigned endearment, no more than that. Probably no different to a huge batch of others sent at the same time and with the same banal message. We send cards too. Well I don’t actually have anything to do with it any more. It is the business of my wife and kids. They also manage the fine art of posting them not too early and not too late.

I certainly didn’t get a card from George W. Bush, but I read that some two million other citizens of the world did. Nor did I get one from any Australian politician, which suggests to me that my vote is not worth zilch as far as any of them are concerned. Clearly none of these people wish me or my family any goodwill and happiness.

I did get a card from AIATSIS. That’s the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. The government sponsored organisation is based in Canberra. The Council and staff wished me a merry Christmas and a happy new year. That’s nice. Well it wasn’t actually personal. Just a printed message with the printed signatures of a couple of bigwigs. I think it’s the first time I’ve had one from them. They must be cashed up.

The cover of the card was interesting. A green platter bearing a segment of multi-layered cake and the AIATSIS logo of a stylised western desert shield. Alongside the cake is a table fork, and a couple of Christmas bonbons. A load of symbolism in the image I'm sure. My association with the organisation is as a scholar who has worked in the area of indigenous studies. I think I have been on their honorary membership list for about ten years.

Yesterday some good friends came here for lunch. The man is a scholar whom I greatly admire. Like me he has a PhD, but he has just finalised a second one for the examiners. He will have to be called Double Doctor. His specialty for many years has been western Australian Aboriginal history, but in recent years he has diversified towards Chinese history. This is why I gave him a small volume on Tai Chi. Second hand of course, as are many interesting items which come into the hands of scholars. Cheap too.

But he won out in the second hand oneupmanship stakes this year by presenting me with a framed 1981 facsimile of a French lithograph, Vue des caps du Port Jackson. (Nouvelle Galles du Sud) The work is by draftsman/artist Felix Saint-Aulaire appears to relate to Dumont D'Urville’s expedition in L’Astrolabe, which visited Port Jackson in 1826. Previously they had been at King Georges Sound (Albany) on the south coast of Western Australia and made some significant observations about the indigenous inhabitants.

It shows a couple of small boats under sail inside the heads. One has a British Ensign flying at the masthead. On the horizon is a three masted vessel under sail. It may be L’Astrolabe. The entire picture is tinged dark blue, which may signify an early morning arrival of the snail eaters.

I think the original was published in an atlas in 1833. I will have to dive into my library, and reconsult my friend try to verify these matters. He is older and much wiser than I. In the meantime I have to drill a hole in the wall to hang my latest acquisition. It has to be somewhere I can periodically contemplate it. Sort of like Tai Chi for the mind.

We fed our guests “turf and surf” – fresh salad, grilled rump steak and abalone. The latter was diced and lightly fried with butter, minced garlic and ginger. They hadn’t tried abalone before, but seemed to like it.

© MMIV Paul R. Weaver.

About the writer

Check out the index of my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days.

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